geordie

Well, you threw out the 3R, but here are my comments anyway. If you're camping on snow and or have a large tentpad, the 3R is great. I used mine for innumerous days in the N. Cascades over the years and took it on my recent trip to Bolivia. Me, and all my climbing partners, are 6'+ and love the space of the 3R. 2 climbers and all their gear no problem. for short trips 3 people fit. As for the middlepole - I just bought one and like how it tensions the tent. I went years without it, but it does cut down on the flapping. Windproof and stormproof, you bet. It's big so setting it up in a crosswind will be noisy, but it's bomber. As far as a general alpine tent (summers in the cascades), I might look into a 2X as a future purchase. my 2 cents

April 19,2004 Sean, Geordie, Dan, and Dave Four of us headed to Bolivia for 6 weeks of climbing. The plan was to start off with some acclimitazation, then do trips in the Cord. Occidental and the Condoriri area of the Cord. Real. I noticed the altitude as soon as we landed. El Alto aka JFK in La Paz is about 13,000 and I was feeling the pounding of my heart. I was a little happier when we drove down to La Paz and lost 1000 feet. Sean didn't fare so well. He was fine at the airport, but soon after began to take a plunge. While we explored La Paz, he explored variations in vomiting technique and spent the day commuting between his bed and the toilet bowl. (Sorry dear readers, no actual vomiting photos, but I think we might have one of him laying in bed feeling like crap.) That night the healthy three had a conference in the hall. We decided he didn't need to hit the hospital that night, but that we would drive to a lower elevation the next day to see if he improved. He was healed over night... magic. We headed to Lake Titicaca and Isla del Sol for a week of acclimitization. The island is at 13,000 and since there are no cars, you can spend hours trekking from one village to another. Dave took his turn being the sick one and stayed in bed for a day. Back to La Paz, then our first summit. Chacaltaya. It's almost 18,000 and was our trip up high. Of course it's a ski resort and you can drive nearly to the top. It was a nice walk and we saw a condor. A 3-4 hour bus ride (nice bus $10) took us to Sajama national park where we were greeted by Abel Murro, who other Cc folks have used. He took us by 4x4 to the base camp for the twins- a dry, gritty, sandy, dirty place. We skipped out on the 7 hour hike with mules, and had plenty of extra water. I wasn't quite ready for 14,000 feet and took my turn being sick. The next day we carried loads to 17,000 and moved up the next day. I was useless. The first climb was Parinacota which I skipped in favor of resting, recovering and acclimitizing. Sean managed his first 6000m peak, while Dan and David turned back shy of the summit. After a rest day we headed for Pomerata. Turns out our climb really was in Chile. Oops, illegal border crossing. We decided to follow the ridge, even though we spied easier lines from camp. Between the altitude and routefinding we ran out of time. I spent the evening being sick again. Back to Sajama Village to get our fill of alpaca and papas fritas and then to Sajama itself. This is Bolivia's tallest mountain and certainly taller than anything any of us had attempted before. Having performed so poorly so far, and having carried light loads, I decided to skip the summit attempt. Just as well, high winds scared the team down from high camp as soon as they got there. three mountains, four climbers, one measly summit. The cord. occidental had kicked our butts. So much for warming up on the "easy" routes. Pt. II- Condoriri as well as pics, coming soon

pacena es agua.. (and huari isn't any better)

Just got back from 6 weeks down south. Thanks to Jason and others for the beta and crackbolter for the down pants. Week 1 - Isla del Sol - various team members deal with altitude in various ways. vomiting remains popular. Week 2 - "easy" peaks in the cord. occidental. I start puking on a regular basis. Mostly we get shut down. week 3 - sajama. I feel like crap and stay at camp. My teammates bail after wind destroys tent. Week 4+5 - Cord. Real Finally some acclimitization and success. Peq. Alpamayo, Piramide Blanca (SW Face/ridge), Ala Derecha (gully 3), Cabeza de Condor. Other party members climbed the direct route on Illusion. we found there was less snow than we expected, but glaciers were in good shape. routes took much longer than the Brain book suggested. more to follow, pics too..

Thanks for all your advice, off to CO on Sunday, then Bolivia in a week!!

Amen, Brutha!! I'm never too upset when weather or conditions shut me down, the real bummer is having a great weather window and you can't get a partner to commit to climb.

FYI- Alpinist is going to send Issue O to everyone who renews. That should help out those of you interested in a copy...

I'll be at the grasslands from tonight until the 29th. Come join the fun.

I've gotten a few e-mails, but only Ryan's throwing a price out in the open. My copies aren't really for sale, but from what I hear there's quite a disconnect between the scarcity of these mags and the amount people are willing to pay. (Here's a hint, $15 doesn't talk, especially for a mag that has a $13 newstand price..)

Everything has a price... discuss.

Surprised I didn't run into you since I managed to get to most of those last week too. You missed out on This House of Sky- those last two pitches were worth it. Locals say the route was the fattest they've seen. (Same with Profs)

Cascade may be gone, but Professors was nice yesterday... Stuff in the Ghost was good too. Looking at the weather reports from Seattle isn't the same as being there... suckaz.

the only constant is change. snowed a few inches last night, but warm and sunny today. really depends on what happens btw now and whenever you come. That probably didn't help..

I'll give you $75-

Yeah, I'm not saying the route was in or out of condition. We were not winning the game against the clock and since the going was getting any easier, decided to bail. The runnels certainly weren't an option for us, but maybe for a stronger/ more adventurous party. Another day..

Climb: Dragontail-Triple Couloirs Date of Climb: 2/10/2004 Trip Report: Baby Z Rat and I decided to use this wonderful weather window to get up something big. We stumbled our way up the trail enjoying the tracks of fellow cc.rs. Unfortunately we had left before they posted about snow conditions up high. We made a nice camp by the lake and headed up in the morning (later than we should have.) We found the first couloir to have mostly very powdery snow, with some windblown firmer spots. The going was embarassingly slow. We bailed just past the entrance to the runnels, which looked thin, though I've never seen them before to compare. So we rapped and downclimbed and were happy to sacrifice a little gear in order to save our epic for another day. Beautiful few days in a wonderful spot. Gear Notes: used pickets used pins wished we coulda used the screws

I feel your pain. Nearly a month ago I thought of posting the same question. I didn't feel any pain at the time, just had problems with my tele turns - boy was I in a pissy mood. We decided to go home before I killed someone/something and as soon as the boot came off I noticed the knee pain and instability. After 10 days of RICE and Vitamin I , I went xc skiing and managed some snowshoeing too. This weekend I skiied for a few hours on two different days. Still a little weak for a full day of tele turns. I think you need to be patient and especially try not to really tear it, by going back too early.

Sell a brother some warm pants. size medium.

I don't doubt it. Seems like everyone's passed through these doors.

Anyone know about these old bindings? lowell?

OK - "Plumbbob Homecoming 04" Who's in? PB - gotta favorite watering hole?

Let's see if we can get a quorum. My thought was to get the locals (established and new to town) together, but apparently folks are being shy.

Right here! You can sign up right here! While I'd hoped the Orondo/Waterville Posse might head down, I hadn't expected the y-vegas crew to grace us with their presence. Who knows, maybe the Issaquah gangstas will get nasty and represent. (you know we all just wanna see Retro and Teamhilti in the same room )

Any folks in the L-worth/ Wenatchee area want to get together for a pub club? Rat, retro, leithal, teamhilti ? I know there's lots more.

As of SUNDAY 1/11.. Quiet in the AM but around noon more of the 'cicles of death resumed their reign of terror. We got some laps on Trotsky's Folly though.